Wednesday July 5, 2006 12:25 am

Entourage: Guys and Doll

Ari predicted that Vince would have offers pouring in as soon as the movie opened at #1. Now that it has, Eric is calling Ari bright and early Monday morning wanting him to pay up. Claiming that his word is good, Ari tells them to get to his office first thing. Turtle, Drama and Eric try to make a clean getaway, but Dom manages to wake up in time for the meeting… and just in time to take the driver’s seat away from Turtle once again. As they approach Ari’s office, Eric asks Dom to be on his best behavior. Having been rehabilitated by the State of New York, Dom claims that he is a changed man. But he is still willing to beat up the ‘Oriental’ (Lloyd) if he catches him looking at him.

Ari lays out Vince’s offers in dramatic fashion. Although there are people willing to pay over $8 million to work with their boy, what their boy wants, he’ll have to fight for. Building up to the climax of his presentation, Ari takes down his mirror and spreads out a bag of ‘cocaine’. Leave it to Dom to certify the substance as simply powdered cream. Cocaine or not, the prop is mean to symbolize Vince’s dream job: playing Pablo Escobar in Medellian. The script long-believed to be dead has now been resuscitated thanks to animation king Phil Rubenstein. The man who helped create Madagascar and Shrek now wants to work with ‘real’ people and was intrigued by Vinnie’s performance in Aquaman. Making the deal even sweeter, Oscar-darling Paul Haggis wants to direct it. The one thing Vince needs to do now is win over Rubenstein. In order to do so, the boys will have to suit up tonight and attend a kickoff party for the producer’s new cult wine.

While the boys are shopping for their new duds, Dom gives Vince a few words of unsolicited advice. Why should Vince be begging any producer for a role when he already has people lined up to work with him? Vince should not be the one getting on his knees. Appearing to agree with Dom, Vince tells Eric to cancel his meeting in Santa Barbara. Eric can’t believe his ears but is pleasantly surprised to hear that Vince is not serious. Vince wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize everything he’s worked so hard for. He just wanted to agree with Dom to help build up his confidence. So the trip to Santa Barbara continues as scheduled with the boys taking an extravagant helicopter flight to their gig. Dom then tells the boys that being able to wear nice clothes and travel in style makes him feel like he has finally made something out of his life.

Once they get to the party, Vince is left to charm Phil Rubenstein by himself. Twenty minutes later, Ari is freaking out on the sidelines. But when he sees Dom interrupting Vince and Phil’s, Ari springs into action. The boys subtly try to pull Dom away from the talks, but Phil stops them. Talking to Vince’s friends allows one to get a sense of who he really is. Dom then starts to lay it on thick and tells Phil a story about how Vince once bailed him out during their old days. Instead of being turned off by Dom’s run-in with the law, Rubenstein finds Vince’s street life appealing. The crew leaves convinced that Vince has nailed the role—and that Dom was a major factor in getting him the job.

Another day comes and the boys are once again awakened to Dom having very loud sex. To add insult to the sleepless morning, Ari calls Eric with bad news. It appears that someone stole a very valuable and sentimental Shrek doll from Rubenstein’s house during the party. Even without proof, Ari is convinced that fingers will be pointed at the crew housing an ex-felon. While the boys are discussing the situation at breakfast, Dom comes out of his bedroom and asks Vinnie for a favor. He needs someone to float him a little money for the expensive broad he hired that night. While Dom is back upstairs getting money from Vince’s room, the boys agree to find out the truth—whether they want to know the answer or not.

The plan starts with Eric and Vince taking Dom out to breakfast. Realizing that they are staging an intervention, Dom believes the boys want to talk to him about his noisy encounters with the ladies. Instead, they are direct with him and ask him about the doll. They want to be the first ones to ask him instead of the authorities. Dom passionately denies stealing anything—right before he makes a god-awful snorting noise. Vince claims to believe him and so does Eric…right before E imitates Dom’s noise. While they are outside waiting for Dom to bring the car around, Vince wonders what the hell Eric is up to. Eric says that after all his years of playing poker with Dom, he knows all of Dom’s signs and horrible ‘tells’. The noise that Dom made earlier had guilt written all over it. Meanwhile back at the house, Turtle and Drama are scouring Dom’s room for the stolen doll. Not only do they not find anything, they are now forced to throw away two of Dom’s shirts because they don’t remember what order they found them in.

Still distraught about his stolen Shrek, Phil refuses to get out of bed and only speaks to Ari via speakerphone. Ari then relays to Eric that the Medellian deal is in jeopardy. Although there is no proof, Ari and Eric both believe that Dom stole the doll—so they decide to take matters into their own hands. Ari comes to the house and tries to con the felon by claiming to have videotaped evidence of the crime. Vince gives Dom the opportunity to ‘fess up, but Dom denies the whole thing and continues to call Ari’s bluff. Ari is now forced to play the tape—only to reveal that it was a sham.

Upset that his friend has been falsely accused, Vince tells Ari to leave. Vince then rails on Eric for his disloyalty and lectures the boys about their behavior. “Have we gotten so Hollywood that we have forgotten how to treat family? I know that that Dom would never do anything

intentionally

to (screw) me over.” The moving speech hit the right note—and Dom right in the gut—and finally forces a confession. Vince knew that Dom was guilty during his denials to Ari because he scratched his neck. THAT was always his ‘tell’—not the snorting noise he would make.

Dom apologizes profusely for impulsively stealing the doll. Devoid of adult content in the joint, he watched Shrek about 400 times. He claims that he always wanted to put it back, but a maid kept looking at him that night like he did something wrong. Unfortunately, returning the item now wouldn’t solve anything because they would still cuff him and cancel the movie deal. The boys finally agree with Dom and hatch a plan to return the doll without any of their names attached. With some layers of bubble-wrap and a strong arm, Shrek is safely launched over the front gates of the Rubenstein mansion.

Vince later fires Dom from his security position but makes sure that he is awarded a nice severance package—a Hummer and a new apartment. The boys reluctantly admit missing him, but know he isn’t very far. On the upside, now that Dom and Shrek are history, Vince can move on to the Medellian project….or so he thought. Apparently making a successful action movie not only opens up doors, but commits you to sequels you can’t get out of.